1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to data communications and more particularly to sharing data among a plurality of processing resources.
2. Related Art
Communication technologies that link electronic devices are many and varied, servicing communications via both physical media and wirelessly. Some communication technologies interface a pair of devices, other communication technologies interface small groups of devices, and still other communication technologies interface large groups of devices. Examples of transaction based wired communication technologies include the PCI (peripheral component interface) standard, the ISA (industry standard architecture) standard, the USB (universal serial bus) standard, and the HyperTransport (HT) standard, previously known as the Lightning Data Transport (LDT). Examples of data packetized wired communication standards include the Ethernet standard and the SPI (system data packet interface) standard, among others. Examples of wireless Local Area Networking (LAN) standards include the IEEE 802.11x standards, the Bluetooth standard, the IEEE 802.15 standard, for example. Other wireless standards include various cellular standards, various satellite standards, and others.
Data packet data routers, server computers, data storage devices, and other data processing devices often include a plurality of distinct processing resources. Each of these distinct processing resources include one or more processing resources, memory resources, and a communication interface. These distinct processing resources may reside on respective Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs). Alternately, sets of distinct processing devices may share a PCB. The PCBs may removably mount within a housing and communicatively couple via back plane connectors or other connecting media. Use of groups of distinct processing resources increase the processing capabilities of the device and allow the device to function should one or more of these distinct processing resources fail.
Interconnecting the distinct processing resources is problematic. Because the distinct processing resources couple via a back plane connector or another connecting media, a high speed transaction interface, e.g., HT, PCI, etc., cannot typically be used. Thus, a data packetized interface, e.g., Ethernet or SPI, must typically be employed. The data packetized resource employs an addressing scheme that adds complexity to the operation of the device. Further, a relatively complex communication interface is required for each distinct processing resource. This combination of requirements increases the cost of each distinct processing resource, increases the power consumed by each distinct processing resource, increases the heat produced by each processing resource, and slows the operation of each processing resource. Thus, a need exists to overcome at least these problems of the prior devices.